The 2004 Australian Election Study is the seventh in a series of surveys beginning in 1987 that have been timed to coincide with Australian Federal elections. The series also builds on the 1967, 1969 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys. The Australian Election Studies aim to provide a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, and investigate the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernise and change character. In addition to these long-term goals they examine the political issues prevalent in the election and assess their importance for the election result.
The 2004 survey replicates many questions from the previous Australian Election Studies, but also introduces a variety of new questions including a section on political and global issues. Other sections cover the respondent's interest in the election campaign and politics, their past and present political affiliation, evaluation of parties and candidates, alignment with parties on various election issues, evaluation of the current economic situation, attitudes to a range of election issues including the immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, terrorism, taxation, unemployment, and interest rates, attitudes to issues relating to the environment and defence, and opinions on various social policy issues including abortion, equal opportunities, sex discrimination, and government assistance to Aborigines.
Background variables include level of education, employment status, occupation, type of employer, position at workplace, trade union membership, sex, age, own and parents' country of birth, parents' political preferences, religion, marital status, income, and where applicable, the occupation, trade union membership and political preference of the respondent's spouse.
This dataset (01079-s) contains both the main sample and the supplementary sample.

persons on the Australian electoral roll at the close of rolls, September 2004

Date of Collection

Start date - Data Collection: 2004-10-08

End date - Data Collection: 2004-10-08

Time Period

Time Period - Start: 2004-10-08

Time Period - End: 2004-10-08

Geographic Coverage

National

Geographic Unit

Federal Electoral Division

Methodology

Content

Sampling Procedure

Stratified systematic random sample. The sample of electors for all Australia was drawn from the Commonwealth Electoral Roll by the Australian Electoral Commission following the close of rolls for the 2004 election. The Commission supplied name and address information only, to be used only for this study. The sample was selected to be proportional to the population on a state by state basis.
Multi-stage sample. An additional random sample of electors in the Federal Divisions of Reid, Watson, Fowler, Holt, Gellibrand and Maribyrnong was also drawn from the Commonwealth Electoral Roll to boost numbers of respondents who were not born in Australia. These electorates were chosen as they have a high migrant population. The sample of 1500 was examined with regard to the perceived ethnic origin of the surnames on the list and 790 were selected to participate in the study on this basis. This sample is referred to as the Supplementary Sample.

Data Kind

survey

Response Rate

Main Sample
Of a total mailing of 4250, there were 1769 completed returns giving a raw response rate was 42%. An adjusted response rate of 45% was calculated by removing the out of scope sample (deceased, incapable, return to sender, n=275).
Supplementary Sample
Of a total mailing of 790, there were 250 completed returns giving a raw response rate was 32%. An adjusted response rate of 35% was calculated by removing the out of scope sample (deceased, incapable, return to sender, n=69).

Data Access

Content

Deposit Information

Content

Depositor

Clive Bean

Deposit Date

2005-03-18

Version

Second version

Other

Content

Unit of Analysis

Individual

Mode of Data Collection

self-completion (mail out - mail back)

Comment

The 2004 Australian Election Study is the seventh in a series of surveys beginning in 1987 that have been timed to coincide with Australian Federal elections. The series also builds on the 1967, 1969 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys. The Australian Election Studies aim to provide a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, and investigate the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernise and change character. In addition to these long-term goals they examine the political issues prevalent in the election and assess their importance for the election result.
The 2004 survey replicates many questions from the previous Australian Election Studies, but also introduces a variety of new questions including a section on political and global issues. Other sections cover the respondent's interest in the election campaign and politics, their past and present political affiliation, evaluation of parties and candidates, alignment with parties on various election issues, evaluation of the current economic situation, attitudes to a range of election issues including the immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, terrorism, taxation, unemployment, and interest rates, attitudes to issues relating to the environment and defence, and opinions on various social policy issues including abortion, equal opportunities, sex discrimination, and government assistance to Aborigines.
Background variables include level of education, employment status, occupation, type of employer, position at workplace, trade union membership, sex, age, own and parents' country of birth, parents' political preferences, religion, marital status, income, and where applicable, the occupation, trade union membership and political preference of the respondent's spouse.
This dataset (01079-s) contains both the main sample and the supplementary sample.

Question Text: B.6. Which do you think is better-when the Federal Government has a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, OR when the Federal Government in the House of Representatives does not control the Senate?

Question Text: B.15. Was there any time during the election campaign when you seriously thought you might give your first preference to another party in the House of Representatives? (Circle one number only.)

Question Text: B.16. In the last Federal election in November 2001, when Labor was led by Kim Beazley and the Liberals by John Howard, which party got your first preference then in the House of Representatives election?

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Pre-question Text: B.18. Before this current Federal election for the House of Representatives, had you always voted for the same party, or had you sometimes voted for different parties? (Circle as many as apply.)

Question Text: B.22. Regardless of how you feel about the parties, would you say that any of the individual party leaders in the last election represents your views reasonably well? If so, which party leader represents your views best? (Circle one number only.)

Question Text: B.23. Some people say that political parties in Australia care what ordinary people think. Others say that political parties in Australia don't care what ordinary people think. Where would you place your view on this scale from 1 to 5?

Question Text: B.24. Where would you place your view on this scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means that political parties are necessary to make our political system work, and 5 means that political parties are not needed in Australia?

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: B.25. Finally in this section, we would like to know what you think about each of our political parties. Please rate each party on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly dislike that party and 10 means that you strongly like that party. If you are neutral about a particular party or don't know much about them, you should give them a rating of 5.

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?

Pre-question Text: C.2. Here is a list of words and phrases people use to describe party leaders. Thinking first about John Howard, in your opinion how well does each of these describe him-extremely well, quite well, not too well or not well at all?